Situated right in the center of the capital city Beijing, the Forbidden city is a beautiful and enormous palace which is now called the Gugong (the ancient palace). The Forbidden City, as the residence of the terrestrial emperor, was its earthly counterpart. Jin, or "Forbidden", referred to the fact that no one could enter or leave the palace without the emperor's permission. Cheng means a city.The palace got the name so as it was only accessible by the emperor and nothing or nobody could enter or leave the premises without the emperor’s consent. The Forbidden City is the world's largest palace complex. Indeed, it is listed by UNESCO as the world's largest collection of preserved ancient wood-based structures and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987. It was an imperial palace for twenty four emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was built when the Ming dynasty emperor YongLe moved the capital to Beijing and began the construction of this iconic palace. The design of the Forbidden City was meticulously planned to reflect philosophical and religious principles, and above all to symbolise the majesty of Imperial power. The Forbidden City is as huge as 180 acres and occupies over eight thousand rooms. It has a rectangular layout with gates on each sides. The palace also has watchtowers on all the four corners which were used to watch over assassins and enemies. The palace is protected by a 50 meter wide moat and 10 meter high purple wall. Forbidden city is divided into two parts ; the inner court and outer court. The inner court used to be the residence of the emperor, his family and also had their halems for concubines. The outer court was kept for the official government and ruling businesses. The iconic color associated with Chinese culture : Red, Yellow and Black are abundantly seen throughout the palace’s architecture. According to the emperor YongLe’s version of Beijing, the palace lies right in the middle and also symbolically between temple of heaven in south and temple of north along a central axis. Since 1925, The Forbidden city has been under the charge of the Palace Museum which contains ancient artworks from the Ming dynasty. It is a must visit for history and culture enthusiasts. The Forbidden city is China’s most magnetic tourist destination and gets visited by nearly ten million visitors each year.

Forbidden city - the palace museum

byMeilin Wang

Situated right in the center of the capital city Beijing, the Forbidden city is a beautiful and enormous palace which is now called the Gugong (the ancient palace). The Forbidden City, as the residence of the terrestrial emperor, was its earthly counterpart. Jin, or "Forbidden", referred to the fact that no one could enter or leave the palace without the emperor's permission. Cheng means a city.The palace got the name so as it was only accessible by the emperor and nothing or nobody could enter or leave the premises without the emperor’s consent. The Forbidden City is the world's largest palace complex. Indeed, it is listed by UNESCO as the world's largest collection of preserved ancient wood-based structures and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987. It was an imperial palace for twenty four emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was built when the Ming dynasty emperor YongLe moved the capital to Beijing and began the construction of this iconic palace. The design of the Forbidden City was meticulously planned to reflect philosophical and religious principles, and above all to symbolise the majesty of Imperial power. The Forbidden City is as huge as 180 acres and occupies over eight thousand rooms. It has a rectangular layout with gates on each sides. The palace also has watchtowers on all the four corners which were used to watch over assassins and enemies. The palace is protected by a 50 meter wide moat and 10 meter high purple wall. Forbidden city is divided into two parts ; the inner court and outer court. The inner court used to be the residence of the emperor, his family and also had their halems for concubines. The outer court was kept for the official government and ruling businesses. The iconic color associated with Chinese culture : Red, Yellow and Black are abundantly seen throughout the palace’s architecture. According to the emperor YongLe’s version of Beijing, the palace lies right in the middle and also symbolically between temple of heaven in south and temple of north along a central axis. Since 1925, The Forbidden city has been under the charge of the Palace Museum which contains ancient artworks from the Ming dynasty. It is a must visit for history and culture enthusiasts. The Forbidden city is China’s most magnetic tourist destination and gets visited by nearly ten million visitors each year.